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Welcome Back to Digital Pinball Fans - please read this first
My pinball setup and 'solution' to PA backglass
- Thread starter pinballnoob
- Start date
Robert Misner
New member
- Oct 4, 2014
- 610
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That looks great
did you make the playfield section movable to slide it out more for stuff like VP and PBFX2? I think for me since I'm just using two monitors one on a telescopic stand the other on an articulating arm I won't be able to hide the end of the table the same way(second monitor doens't go quite high enough...tho i could just use some Black Foamcore to cover the playfield dmd for now.
This is my current setup that allows quickly to return to regular PC usage(temporary plastic containers for stability
You should definitely try the NoEx camera mod a few of us have been sharing different camera settings(it lets you set 3 per table) My currernt set is basically a cab view with the dmd at the end but it doesn't overhand the playfield at all.
here's a comparison of MonsterBash with and without the camera mod.
You can see on the left the default camera..the play field narrows much more at the back and the dmd covers the back of the play field , as well as the bottom of the table looks stretched.
On the right the overall playfield is more squared up and the dmd only covers the speaker area and the bottom of the screen is abit compressed but you can see the whole table this way.
I see what you mean Robert. The modded view does look much better in those shots. I'm just a bit concerned about using the mod for a couple of reasons I hinted at earlier. As you, I also play Pinball FX2. In comparing the 2 games, even with views that do not fit the screen perfectly, TPA feels much more like real pinball to me than PF2. The ball is larger and everything just looks and feels right. PF2 is fun and their views fit the screen but the ball is tiny on my screen and and everything in the playfield is smaller. It all just feels more like a video game. In fact, I was dissatisfied with PF2 trying to think of it as pinball. Now I just view it as a pinball-like video game rather than a sim and I like it more LOL.
Ok my questions:
1. Does changing the view such as what you have done above where it is directly overhead and fits the screen make the ball pea sized and everything 2 dimensional looking? In other words, does it now look like PF2?
2. Does the mod change the placement of the DMD or can they still all be in the exact same place? Different places would make mirroring the DMD much more difficult since you would need to have separate mirror settings for each table and then some means to automatically move the mirror for every table.
In answer to your question about physically moving the table for PF2. So far, I haven't seen the need to do so. Most of the tables in portrait do not use the upper portion of the screen. It is merely more decoration. I haven't seen a problem so far (but I haven't played all the tables since making this change. As far as VP, I'm really not interested. I fiddled with it a while back and gave up. It was complicated to set up and I never could get it working exactly right. Between TPA and PF2, I have more than enough pinball tables to suit my needs.
Ok my questions:
1. Does changing the view such as what you have done above where it is directly overhead and fits the screen make the ball pea sized and everything 2 dimensional looking? In other words, does it now look like PF2?
2. Does the mod change the placement of the DMD or can they still all be in the exact same place? Different places would make mirroring the DMD much more difficult since you would need to have separate mirror settings for each table and then some means to automatically move the mirror for every table.
In answer to your question about physically moving the table for PF2. So far, I haven't seen the need to do so. Most of the tables in portrait do not use the upper portion of the screen. It is merely more decoration. I haven't seen a problem so far (but I haven't played all the tables since making this change. As far as VP, I'm really not interested. I fiddled with it a while back and gave up. It was complicated to set up and I never could get it working exactly right. Between TPA and PF2, I have more than enough pinball tables to suit my needs.
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Great! Thanks. I will definitely look into it. In fact, how does the NoEx mod handle the non-DMD tables with the scores on the side? If you can move the score to the center, that would make this solution complete for my setup!!
Man, I really appreciate everyone on this forum! I would be playing this game on a 22" monitor sitting at my desk with a keyboard without you guys!
Robert Misner
New member
- Oct 4, 2014
- 610
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i believe the overlay for dmd and other interface items are not affected at all by the camera mod..it just lets you customize your 3d view more
Well, this is probably a better question/issue for the free camera thread but in reading that thread, it seems you have to start TPA from the steam client to get it to work. I am currently changing the DX11.exe so I can start it directly via my scripts (like some others are doing). I guess I can't use the mod until either TPA is fixed so you can start DX11 directly or the NoEx mod has to be fixed to allow starting directly outside the steam client.
Are you guys not using a fronted or startup script? If so, how are you getting the mod to work? It seems I have to choose between this and the free camera at the moment unless I am missing something.
Are you guys not using a fronted or startup script? If so, how are you getting the mod to work? It seems I have to choose between this and the free camera at the moment unless I am missing something.
Robert Misner
New member
- Oct 4, 2014
- 610
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it was working where the mod would auto launch the game but that broke. Currently we're waiting till NoEx can come up with a different way of detecting whether to launch the mod(so renamed exe's will work). He's on holidays but its something he's planning on addressing.
Carny_Priest
New member
- Jan 9, 2015
- 11
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Funny, the setup looks a little like my first test bed
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pfl1vrk32i0yodb/testbed.png?dl=0
At least, the HotRod anyway. All of the technology is stuff that is ten years old or much older.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pfl1vrk32i0yodb/testbed.png?dl=0
At least, the HotRod anyway. All of the technology is stuff that is ten years old or much older.
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Robert Misner
New member
- Oct 4, 2014
- 610
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ha! glad to see I'm not the only one with an old Hotrod.
an in expensive accelerometer for nudging would be mint but for now just using the inverted 360 controller
IF i can't convince Noah to build a couple controllers I'll probably just build up a higher box adding 3inches to the height and order the digital plunger v2 kit.
an in expensive accelerometer for nudging would be mint but for now just using the inverted 360 controller
IF i can't convince Noah to build a couple controllers I'll probably just build up a higher box adding 3inches to the height and order the digital plunger v2 kit.
Carny_Priest
New member
- Jan 9, 2015
- 11
- 0
The controller I have taped on the HotRod is a Microsoft Sidewinder game pad. It has a built-in accelerometer. Works pretty well. Some cab builders still use it. It's many years old, but you might still be able to find something on eBay.
pinballnoob
New member
- Jul 27, 2015
- 19
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- Thread starter
- #33
Thanks for mentioning Actual Windows Manager priested. My 30 day trial to AMM expired a few days ago, and I really did miss the DMD on the 2nd monitor so I looked into AWM. They offer a 60 day free trial! Haha. So yah, another 60 days of free product! w00t w00t. I'll have to look into how you make the borders transparent and all of the improvements AWM brings.
I may have missed it, but, how do you automate your backglass/dmd setup? Is it just something you cooked up or do you have a program? Or, maybe a combination of the two? I haven't tried using a front end program yet, so I am completely clueless about any of that. Is it easy to do or hard?
I may have missed it, but, how do you automate your backglass/dmd setup? Is it just something you cooked up or do you have a program? Or, maybe a combination of the two? I haven't tried using a front end program yet, so I am completely clueless about any of that. Is it easy to do or hard?
pinballnoob
New member
- Jul 27, 2015
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- Thread starter
- #35
Is HyperSpin the program of choice? That is what I see online.
Also, if you ever see this q Priested, or anyone else with AWM/AMM, how did you manage to remove the borders? I'm looking into this on their forums and just experimenting but have yet to find the way to get it to work. Any help here would be appreciated!
Also, if you ever see this q Priested, or anyone else with AWM/AMM, how did you manage to remove the borders? I'm looking into this on their forums and just experimenting but have yet to find the way to get it to work. Any help here would be appreciated!
pinballnoob
New member
- Jul 27, 2015
- 19
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- Thread starter
- #36
Okay, never mind about the removing borders in AWM, I finally found out how.
tl;dr version: Go to
1. Window Settings
2. Click your mirror profile
3. Click the startup icon, or get to the startup-menu
4. Under options: You have the opportunity to remove 'standard window parts', or something like that.
tl;dr version: Go to
1. Window Settings
2. Click your mirror profile
3. Click the startup icon, or get to the startup-menu
4. Under options: You have the opportunity to remove 'standard window parts', or something like that.
Sorry Nube, I have been off the board for a few days. I am not really using a front end. I have a joystick on the front of my cab and use xpadder to map keyboard to it. I am using autohotkey scripts to start TPA and PFX2 so I can load the correct profiles to xpadder and start AWM.
I guess the biggest missing piece is the program I am using to load the backglasses. I got it at this link:
http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=24545
The mod for TPA is here:
http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=25944
I don't think what I am doing is as fancy as some on here or the forum I linked to above. I believe Pinball X is what some are using and I may eventually look into that but I am growing tired of tinkering. I am pretty happy with my setup so I'll probably just stick with what I am doing...for a while anyway...
I guess the biggest missing piece is the program I am using to load the backglasses. I got it at this link:
http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=24545
The mod for TPA is here:
http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=25944
I don't think what I am doing is as fancy as some on here or the forum I linked to above. I believe Pinball X is what some are using and I may eventually look into that but I am growing tired of tinkering. I am pretty happy with my setup so I'll probably just stick with what I am doing...for a while anyway...